Getting Started

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Public Data Application Programming Interface (API) gives the public access to economic data from all BLS programs. It is the Bureau's hope that talented developers and programmers will use the BLS Public Data API to create original, inventive applications with published BLS data.

The BLS Public Data API is currently available in two versions. Version 2.0 requires registration and allows users to access more data more frequently. Users may add calculations and annual averages to requests, and series description information is available for many BLS surveys. Version 1.0 is a more limited API that does not require registration and is open for public use.

Using BLS API Signatures, developers and programmers can retrieve published historical timeseries data in JSON data-interchange format. The BLS Public API utilizes two HTTP request-response mechanisms to retrieve data: GET and POST. GET requests data from a specified source. POST submits data to a specified resource to be processed. The BLS Public Data API uses GET to request a single piece of information and POST for all other requests. All responses will be in JSON format.

We have provided sample code in the most popular languages currently available to developers and programmers. We encourage users to maintain conformance to W3C standards and accepted practices.